About 970 million registered voters are expected to cast their votes to choose India's next Prime Minister.
Sajjad Hussein | AFP | Getty Images
India is set to hold the world's largest general elections starting April this year, with nearly a billion voters set to exercise their franchise.
The seven-phase electoral process will begin on April 19 and continue until June 1, 2024, according to the schedule announced by the Election Commission of India. There are about 970 million registered voters in the country.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is expected to win more than the 272 seats required to form the government, according to a number of opinion polls.
Experts also expect the BJP to win a third consecutive term
“Given the economic growth momentum in the domestic economy created by the Modi-led government and India's rising profile on the global stage, many are confident that Modi will win again,” Kranthi Pathini, equity strategist at WealthMills Securities, told CNBC.
Opposition parties have often claimed that electronic voting machines can be “hacked”, benefiting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, a claim refuted by the country's election body.
In December, opposition members accused Modi's party of orchestrating a power grab after 141 MPs were suspended for disrupting parliamentary procedures.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar appealed to voters at a press conference on Saturday to “maintain decorum during election campaigns and refrain from violations and personal attacks.”
Since Modi won a second term in the 2019 general elections, India has seen the economy strengthen, with Indian stock indices reaching record levels. Both the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex hit all-time highs this year after the country overtook Hong Kong in December to become the world's seventh-largest stock market.
Krishnamurthy Subramanian, executive director of the International Monetary Fund, said earlier in March that India is “easily” the fastest growing economy and is poised to achieve 8% growth this year.
Improving relations with the United States after Modi's official visit to the White House in June also enhanced India's attractiveness as an investment destination, with many companies keen to expand their industrial presence in the South Asian country while diversifying away from China.
